Lars von Trier speared over 'Antichrist'

May 18, 2009 Declaring himself "the world's greatest director," 53-year-old Dane Lars von Trier defended his enfant terrible title with aplomb at the Monday news conference for his Competition shocker "Antichrist." On questions both abusive and toadying, von Trier maintained his autistic savant persona, deliberately avoiding any explanation of "Antichrist," alternatively mocking or dismissing his interrogators. Von Trier did defend his use of nausea-inducing imagery -- including a bloody masturbation scene and a leg-drilling sequence that could have been cribbed from the "Saw" franchise -- as artistic "honesty," saying to leave the shockers out would have been "like lying."

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